Letter of Invitation from Pastor Babu

02Dec

Dear Pastor,

Let me take the privilege to invite you, your dear wife and all your team; on behalf of my family and the congregation of New Covenant BPC,Bangalore, India. We are so glad to give you the honour to dedicate the Church building for the glory of God and the blessing of the believers here. I will keep on touch with you as we are doing necessary arrangements for the scheduled programme.

With regards
Pastor Babu
New Covenant BPC
(Vathur Village)

“Expect great things; attempt great things” – William Carey.“We cannot do great things.

We can only do small things with great love”

“Never measure God’s unlimited power by your limited expectation”

“The best place to witness is where God has placed you”

The Dedication of New Covenant BPC on December 9 20012 marks the completion of Church renovation and extension where Pastor Babu is serving in Vathur village. The church is ½ hour drive from Covenant Bible Presbyterian Church India where Rev. George Skariah is pastoring.

The new church building now has a second storey with a sanctuary capacity for 150, a new office, a room for the ministry and a kitchen too. Plans to evangelise to the Varthur village of 10,000 people and beyond of which less than 2% are Christians. Fifty members are in full support of this work and gave sacrificially to the building project. In June this year, Irene Tan handed a love gift of S$1000 from our Church Missions fund to Rev. George Skarian for Covenant BPCI.

Elim Child Care, a ministry of Covenant BPCI, began in Feb/March this year for kids around the age from 2 to 4 years old. Bessy Skariah is in charge together with Praven, Rani and Relad with another helper. This is an indirect way to reach out to the community. Irene Tan taught a Bible lesson & Angie Sin shared & took care of the little ones. Another arm of the child care is the Elim Melody for sacred music. There will be a children’s piano recital on 8 Dec this year.

William Carey says, “Expect great things; attempt great things”, but we do not expect to attempt great things. We can only do small things with great love. Our aim in India is to serve in fellowship with the Covenant BP Churches in that spirit. There is a need for prayer in this area. Paul’s letter to Timothy taught that the first active duty of the Church was not evangelism or witness but prayer. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all me. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour”.(1 Tim. 2:1,4).

Christianity in India may be traced back to a trip by the apostle Thomas, first to Punjab in AD 48-49, and then south to the Malabar coast around AD 51-52. Thomas is thought to have taken the gospel first to the city synagogues on the Roman trade routes. The traditions talk of his martyrdom, at Chennai (formerly Madras), but not before churches were established in half a dozen towns. Similar stories suggest the apostle Bartholomew followed Thomas in AD 55.

Around AD 186, Pantanus, a Christian leader from Alexandria was sent to South India in response to a request from fellowships there. An Indian bishop may have been present at a conference in Egypt, AD 250. One was certainly present at the council of Nicea in AD 325 AD.

As early as AD 354, the Indian Church is recorded as sending out its own missionaries and working on Bible translation. In AD 528, the traveller Cosmos reported Christian presence along the Ganges, and in Central, South and West India. Several small waves of immigration by Syrian Christians, fleeing persecution in their own country, added to the Church in the following centuries. In the thirteenth century Marco Polo claimed that out of six great kings in Central India, three were Christians.